Talent is 99 percent perspiration

I hope it is not premature for me to talk about this, but I need to update my blog.

Badly.

And urgently.

And I am running out of topics, and ideas. But I certainly hope that I am not tempting fate.

For the past months, a few of my friends have been commenting - and complimenting, on the videos we have been churning out lately - at our Youtube channel and Facebook account. Actually I have been hearing about it for quite sometimes now, especially from strangers. (Funnily, I seldom got it from my own siblings or relatives. I even had a friend who after commenting positively about them, decided to delete it, not realizing that FB has sent that message over to my FB account.) Most of the time I would just dismiss it, without batting an eyelid. Much I like their compliments - make it that I love them, I prefer not to dwell on it too much. You can't bask on glory alone. It won't pay the bills, and there is much work to be done ahead of them. 

I remember the occasion very well, almost like it was yesterday. Like I know the back of my hand, so to speak. It was a profound moment in my life as a father.

The year was 2000. We had just returned from Houston, after my second tour of duty there.

"Abah, Arif nak belajar violin."

I looked up to him with raised eye brows. I had not cajoled him into saying that, nor have I been pestering about it to him. To be honest, until today I have no idea where he got the idea, and desire, to learn the violin. I am quite sure that there was no MPO then, so he could not have been listening to the classical.

I was not listening to dead men's music. I was too young for that then.

Instead of answering him (Arif), I asked his brother Akmal, "What about you? What do you want to play?"

The piano. Akmal's response was swift. There was no two ways about it. Not from him anyway. He knew what he wanted to do even as a six years old.

"OK, I want the both of you to take up piano first. After you have mastered the piano, then you can learn the violin."

To my surprise, I was decisive then. There was no hesitation on my part. I was a willing supporter in their quest. They didn't argue with me, fortunately. They didn't have too many choices; in fact they didn't have any.

The next step was to find a music centre a.k.a. music school for them.

There was a music school near the house in Taman Kosas Ampang. It is not a Yamaha music school; it was just a mom and pop's music school. But then again, Arif was nine and Akmal was even younger ato six; any teacher would be able to teach to these kids with no music background; much more than their musically illiterate dad would be able to offer them.

Akmal playing on the RM600
keyboard in 2007. El cheapo me.

Unlike Bapak who purchased a RM6,000 Yamaha organ when he wanted his daughters to learn music in the early 80s, I decided to minimize my risk, and only bought a RM600 keyboard a couple of months later for them to practice. By then they had gone through many lesson in their school, and they were only able to practice when in school.

Arif and the RM600
keyboard. I can't
tell you enough how
cheap I was then
compared to my
own bapak

I was adamant to not let what happened to Bapak, happen to me.

If Arif and Akmal were serious about it, they would cross any hurdle with determination. If not, their foray into the music world will die a natural death.

I was not too worried about hindering their progress with music. I had no objectives, and thought that as long as they were enjoying it, that's more than good enough a reason to do it. In hindsight, may be they would have been a faster learner had I bought them the real thing early in the beginning of their musical life and had targets set for them.

It was only two years later - in 2002, that I decided that they are serious music students, and bought them a reconditioned piano, at that time costing me RM4,500. Still cheaper than the RM6,000.00 organ that my dad bought, mind you, in the early 80s. 

So how much would RM6000 (in 1982) be worth twenty years later?  A lot more than I had spent, I guess.

I am sure I was earning then multiples of what bapak was earning, and yet he would spent much more for his kids' musical education.

God bless bapak for he loves music so much, despite being a very religious person. I guess he was probably interested in music when he was a kid, and circumstances prevented him from from pursuing it - not much different from my own, I guess. My uncle PC Ya told me recently that bapak has a melodious and soothing voice.

I had never heard him singing, to be honest, but he has for many years when he was in Lenggong been calling for the prayers at the nearby mosque, and I have to admit I love it when he said the azan, especially for the dawn prayer.

Unfortunately, his investment was one without a payback - even if I said so myself, and even then by mere observations, and not to find fault with his decisions 30 years ago. Both his two daughters did it half way, though his untimely death may have some impacts on their progress for sure.

Then again, if they so desired, they could have self-taught themselves beyond their formal education. But they didn't. I guess they weren't really interested, but it was bapak pushing them to do it. 

Sorry but I digress. In my case, I didn't ask Arif and Akmal to learn the piano. They did it on they own accord, and in the end, it shows.

I knew that Arif and Akmal would work hard to succeed. There was no two ways about it. There was no one in the family with musical talent - not that I know of anyway. I know they would have to work hard, but I do know too that I had never put the pressure on them. 

If they were to succeed, Alhamdulillah. If not, well...we were (really) not a musical family, so there was no risk.

In the beginning, Arif was the more prodigious son, and he was much quicker in progressing to the next level. He would pound the cheap plastic keyboard for years, before he got his hand on the real one. He even won the Oustanding Student Award during the year end concert, when he was only 14.  Akmal was much slower, but I can't think of a time I would have to shout at them to get them to practice.

They were diligent students, and I had an easy job as a father.

On the other hand, I didn't put extra pressure by asking them to play this or that songs, other then the classical songs they had learned at school. I totally leave it to them to absorb all those in front of them.

However, since taking up flying, Arif has not be doing much music. Akmal on the other hand has improved by leaps and bounds, and has left me breathless with his musical proficiency. I remember him being the slower learner; I remember him that he would do his practice when I was not around, or after we bought a digital piano, using the headphone, so that I would not be able to hear him practice and hence I would not be able to criticise.

I think all these whiles he has been living under his brother's shadow, and without him around, he was under no pressure for him to excel.

And excel he did, and I must say I am proud of him with the high quality of music that he has been churning out.

It didn't come out naturally at first, and effortlessly on their side. They are skillful, but certainly not gifted. They are good, but certainly they weren't prodigies when they were kids. They put a lot of hours in front of the piano.

On the piano stool, which can't be the most comfortable of chairs, I must say.

The only evidence that we have to show that we do have music in our blood. Well, a little bit I guess.
The girl, second from left, is the great grandmother of Arif & Akmal. Apparently
according to her son - my uncle PC Ya - she played the violin too. 

I am not sure if I had planned for them to become musicians. In some sense, may be I did. Afterall,  I had bought a piano book in 1985, just before I returned from Melbourne, thinking that one day, I would have someone to play it for me. The book is still intact; and now I have two sons who could play them for me.

Note for note.

In reflection, I am not sure if the both of them had any talent. I guess it does not matter. In the end, I know they have put in their heart and soul into learning music for the past 10 years. There was no easy shortcut for them; they put in long hours in their musical pursuit.

The picture is PC Ya with the Kilat band, who beat
Najib Hanif in a singing competition. Taken without
his permission from his FB.

Talent is, after all, ninety nine percent perspiration, if we are to be believe Edison. (Actually I twisted his statement a bit. Genius is 99% perspiration is the actual saying attributed to Edison.)

I am very sure I can't dispute him. Not with him being the most prolific scientist, and engineer.

Obviously Arif and Akmal have a long way ahead of them. They are still nobody in the industry - I am sure that was not the target when they first started. They were supposed to be able to entertain us. But since they are here, no one can say that they should not go far. They have the passion to do it.

Well, enjoy Akmal playing the Beatles. Now after 10 years, it is payback time. How many were able to enjoy live piano music at one's behest and fancy?

Ada apa dengan PhD?

Prologue

Sometimes I think our politicians are retarded.

When the issue of bogus PhD of Fazley Yaakob surfaced, the minister of higher education Khaled Nordin retorted that the owner of a college is not required to have a PhD. You can read about it here.

So I guess as long as you are not doing any teaching, it is ok to buy your degree, especially a PhD. For you and I, it is ok to buy a bogus PHD and pretend that I am Dr so and so. I thought I have seen Fazley around local campuses on local telly, charading as Dr Fazley Yaakob.

For that I would award Khaled a PhD in stupidity. 

What's with PhD anyway that we are so obsessed about? When I completed my masters degree,  a friend was pushing me to go on and complete my PhD. While I certainly do not mind to be called a Dr, which is more of an incentive for me (since I do not hold any datukship!), but I can't for the life of me be bothered.

Especially in fields where every Tom, Dick and Harry are getting the PhDs in.

If you ask me, I think about 90% of PhD holders in Malaysia are in the field of social sciences, anthropology, management and perhaps business administration (DBA). And they would all then  pretend to be political pundits prior to the general election, hoping to be recognized as an intellectual, and picked up as candidate for the election.

I can bet that you can count with your hands how many PhDs do we have in pure sciences and mathematics - someone who would be expanding the frontier of knowledge. If you want to teach at a university, by all means, get yourself a proper PhD. If you want to do research, go ahead and get yourself a good PhD. If you just wanna be an MB, or a minister, please la, don't embarrass yourself by buying a bogus degree.

If you are lazy like me, might as well you forget it, unless you are willing to slog day in day out like my professorial friend to earn the right to be called a Dr. I know a couple of friends who slogged out for seven years to get his PhD and in the end got nothing to show for. If you r.ead the history of mathematics, we have many geniuses who in the end failed to proved certain theorem and failed in process to get themselves PhD.


YOu have to earn the right to be called a Dr. In that aspect, you have to be a genuine intellectual.

At least you know the credentials of a Datuk - there is none anyway. YOu can buy one instead. No one would be bothered to check whether your deserved you datukship or not. By default, datukships are bogus anyway. It is not like one would need to spend 3-7 years studying in a niche area to get your title, like a PhD.


So back to called En Fazley for him. I am not sure how he could face everybody else after this.

So you want to do a PhD? or The Equation that could not be solved

While I was working in Houston some years back, I had a good friend by the name of Dr Saby Sen. He had just joined the Houston office when I were there. Saby and I got along just fine. Funny guy this Dr Sen – when he introduced himself for the first time, he mentioned that he has a sister by the name of Sushmita (Sen and I am sure you Bollywood fans would know her well). I knew he was pulling my leg, but I went along with it.

So last year when he emailed me after losing contact for nearly seven years, I jokingly asked him about his sister Sushmita. He replied, “Rahman, I have a confession. Sushmita isn’t really my sister.” He must have thought that I had fallen for his joke. I didn’t actually. Of course I knew all along he didn’t have her as his sister (at least not the Sushmita we all knew) eventhough they share the same surname. Otherwise I would have asked him to introduce me to her! 

On the same breathe, someone in the Houston office asked me if I am related to (the late) Rafiq Hariri, then the Lebanese Prime Minister. My response was simple, “If I am related to him, chances are that I may not be working for this company and we may not have this conversation!” Hah, someway to strike a conversation with your new colleagues, right? Of course I enjoyed my tenure at Hyprotech and I thought it was one of the best run small company in the world, but you know me and my convoluted way of answering a simple question!

The sister that never was for Saby (Left) and the relative that never was for me (right).

On second thought, just may be that Dad has slight resemblance to Rafik Hariri, if only in size. But then again, most likely not. We don't have any blood from the Middle East at all. May be a little bit Indian (the bulk from Pagar Ruyung & Aceh - in fact I believe the Indian blood came from the Aceh side), but definitely not from Middle Eastern for our family.There is a better chance that I am related to Sushmita than to Rafik Hariri!

Actually that was not the reason why I wrote this piece. One day I asked him,”Saby, do you think I can do a PhD?” His response was straight forward. “Rahman, anyone can do PhD, if they are willing to take poverty!” He went on telling me what he went through while doing his PhD.

I smiled while listening intently to his story. I know what he was talking about. In the US there is no PTPTN or MARA and is not easy to get government scholarship (you can get loans tho). You would probably need to supplement your income by teaching or tutoring. You can forget the luxury of life while you are doing your PhD.

Matjepun has been pushing me to do my PhD. "You should," he told me, "it is easy and I am sure in 2 years you will have the title in front of your name." “Give me half an hour of your time, I will explain all that you need to do to get your PhD,” he added, while we were both seeping teh tarik at the cafe in Bank Negara. I am sure it is nice to have that title in front of my name. Dr Rahman Hariri..hmmm, there is a nice ring to it. It would surely be nice to see that on my credit card, right? Then again, may be not. I can’t afford poverty. In which case, I will not have a credit card to begin with! I might as well settle for the title Pak Guru from my clients and students from Pertamina! That is good enough I guess.

So recently I had a chat with my partner-cum-advisor-cum-friend, Peter. This guy has two masters degree – in Math and in Chemical Engineering, and and he used to teach at Institute Of Gas Technology in Chicago and currently like me, semi-retired, and he is old enough to be like a father figure. Being American, of course he is biased towards the American PhD compared to say British. But he has his points. If I were to consider doing it, I am more inclined to the American system, to be honest. I have read the book So You Want to get a PH.D. by Dr Kamarul Zaman Ahmad. (The book is not convincing to be honest. For a book written by a PhD graduate (a UM lecturer at that) for prospective PhD students, it is not scientific and based too much on hearsay.)

But in any case, he did explain the difference between UK PhD and US PhD, noting that UK PhD is more unstructured. In the US there are several taught subjects and students have to sit for exams for those subjects. Anyway, I think more highly of the US PhD and I think it is more suitable for me and is the way to go for Malaysians thinking of doing PhD.

Anyway back to getting PhD - what does it take to get one? Peter categorized them in three different types:

1. PhD in History, Literature, social sciences etc – you need perseverance. Keep pounding on it, write a book and you should be getting your PhD. In the US you have 7 years to complete, and if you are taking PhD in these areas, you will get your PhD.
2. PhD in Engineering – what I am targeting. Now this one is very dependent on your professor. If he can get you the funds to buy the equipment that will enable you to measure and get all the data you need for your research, then you should be ok. If not, it will be a long wait.
3. PhD in Mathematics – this is the most difficult. You may have an inspiration and you may be able to solve the theorem in a flash and in 6 months you should get your PhD. But you may be staring at it, and pound at it for for 6 years and have nothing to show for it.

He quoted an example. I think most of us know how to solve for the roots for quadratic equation, right? Do I hear someone groaning somewhere? Hahaha, I don’t blame you for feeling that way. In any case the roots for a second order polynomials (ax2 + bx + c = 0), solving for x, one would get

Simple stuff for F3 and may be F4 for sure. This is old stuff. This solution was known by the people of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt circa 2160-1700 BC.

The same goes for cubic equation – the polynomials of the 3rd order (ax3 +bx2 + Cx + d = 0). One can find the solution to this albeit it is more convoluted, but definitely doable. But it is too lengthy for this blog. Visit this site to know more.

My point is, mathematicians have found the roots up to the polynomial of the 4th order (quartic equation). However, scholars including PHD students had been working hard at solving for the roots for the 5th order polynomials, the quintic equation. Afterall, if there are roots from second to fourth order polynomials, surely it was a matter of time before someone break the code for the quintic, right? Well, for 350 years they tried and if we were one of the PhD students hoping to solve it for our PhD, well, bad luck my friends.

Quintic equation can’t be solved algebraically. It took Abel’s Impossibility Theorem (1826) ( and also by Galois independently) to prove that it can’t be solved and I guess one can be awarded a PhD for proving wrong what was thought for 350 years to be solvable! But for the rest of us mere mortals, well, you have just 'wasted' 7 years of your life!

Ah well, I don't have 350 years to get this title. I Think I will settle for the simple En Rahman/Pakcik Man/Abgman. Or better still just call me Rahman.

EPILOGUE

Originally Posted at Time in a Bottle
Tuesday March 27, 2007 - 10:02pm (MYT)